宇 (yǔ) is a Chinese character meaning “eaves of a house”. It is written from 宀 (roof) and 于 (at; in; to), one above the other, and takes 6 strokes.
Build the character for “space; the universe”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
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Structure
宀 + 于
Top–bottom structure
Structure from: 说文解字：宇，屋邊也。从宀于聲。
Memory aid
A roof (宀) sitting on 于 — and 于 also tells you the sound: yú → yǔ. Start at the edge of the roof, keep going, and you reach all of space.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
6 strokes
In real words
- 宇宙yǔ zhòuuniverse; cosmos宇 = yǔ
- 宇航员yǔ háng yuánastronaut宇 = yǔ
Go deeper
All readings
space; eaves
eaves of a house; space in all directions; the universe
屋檐；上下四方所有的空间。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 宇宙yǔ zhòuuniverse; cosmos宇 = yǔ
- 宇航员yǔ háng yuánastronaut宇 = yǔ
Sound component
于 family tone diff
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 宇 mean?
宇 (yǔ) means eaves of a house; space in all directions; the universe.
How do you pronounce 宇?
It is pronounced yǔ.
What parts is 宇 made of?
宀 (roof) and 于 (at; in; to), one above the other. The recorded source is: 说文解字：宇，屋邊也。从宀于聲。. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 宇 have?
6. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 宇?
宀. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 宇?
Common ones are 宇宙 and 宇航员. The reading of 宇 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.